Sundquist Classical Riding
Biography
My riding journey…
I have been riding my entire life, which is a considerable number of years since I was born in Colorado in 1967. My horse-crazy mother enrolled me in competition by the age of 5 and I was exposed to all kinds of riding disciplines through 4-H and Arabian breed showing including saddle seat, western pleasure, reining, hunt seat, jumping and dressage. Along with a rigorous competition schedule, as a young person, I began training for clients professionally, started my first horse from start to finish and began teaching riders of all ages. I learned to adapt my riding to suit various breeds and styles but really fell in love with dressage by the time I was 16. Beyond the show ring, I spent hours in the saddle on the trail conditioning horses, moving cows on our ranch and I even led rides in the Colorado mountains as a guide.
The joy of my life at this time was a little unassuming Arabian gelding named Itz-Silfix who carried me to a multitude of wins and high point awards. That horse became a part of me, and I of him. The relationship that I fostered with him would leave its mark upon my heart and soul.
Like many junior equitation riders brought up in the show world, I learned a very pretty, but stuck way of riding that employed tricks and devices to achieve results. I could stay on anything, make it look pretty good, and get results. I was known for my quiet hands and legs but honestly, I used bits, devices, spurs and plain force of will to “make” the horse do what I wanted.
Riding Lusitano in Brazil
By the time I had graduated from high school, I was still obsessed with riding, particularly dressage, but was miserable and frustrated doing it. I pursued my academic career and completed a degree with honors in English as well as a concentration in Biology, but the thought of horses and riding haunted me day and night. During the crash of the Arabian market in the late eighties my family was able to purchase some very nice horses cheaply including a big Russian bred Arabian gelding. I saw his huge gaits and had big dressage dreams; little did I know that he would cause me to have an existential training crisis and lead me to an entirely new way of experiencing the horses and training. It was called French Classical Dressage.
Because of this difficult big red horse, I hit the end of my rope with my knowledge and techniques. I discovered Dominique Barbier, the renowned French student of Mestre Nuno Oliveira. (My story of meeting him is found below.) He truly marked a moment in my life when I learned not only how miserable I was while riding with the usual tactics of excessive aids, both natural and artificial, but also how unconnected I was with the feelings of the horses I was employing these techniques upon.
Kirsten & Itz-Silfix in Colorado
About the same time I met Dominique, I became friends with a gifted massage therapist who began working on my horses and myself. He opened my eyes as to the actual pain and damage my riding and training was having upon the horses’ bodies and how that was affecting their behavior in training. This may sound like common sense in these times, but in the early 90’s it was very new to think of pain being the cause of training issues. Both men set me on the lifelong path I have led in finding a better way to train and partner with horses.
My journey in riding has brought me a multitude of horses to train ranging across all the breeds and introduced me to students of all ages and abilities. I am passionate about teaching and training in classical dressage as it is an extraordinary challenge requiring the development and balance of a range of character-building qualities including patience, listening, critical analysis, perseverance, leadership and creativity. Consequently, you are never finished learning this enigmatic art; every horse, every student is a new day in which you must prove your mettle and test your abilities to unite as one, thus accomplishing perhaps for one moment, what it is to experience what the ancients called ‘the centaur’.
I first met Dominique Barbier at a one-day clinic in Colorado in 1991. I trailered my big chestnut Arabian, The Red Rolls, over mountain passes in a wintry November as a last-ditch effort to get help with his training. I had been trying to train him in dressage for over 2 years with many good and accomplished professionals, but our partnership remained an unmitigated disaster. In fact, many of the trainers I had worked with counseled me to “get rid of him”. The worst of it and the blow to my ego was that I had trained dozens of horses prior to this horse with tremendous show ring success. I couldn’t figure out what I was missing.
I entered the arena at the clinic barely in control of my big horse, emotions overflowing with frustration. Dominique relieved me of my charge and worked him for the first 15 minutes of the lesson. Before long he exclaimed, “This is a magnificent horse”. I couldn’t believe my ears or eyes. In only one day, I began to see what was possible with my “problem” horse as well as the methodical work ahead of me that was necessary to achieve that possibility.
Meeting Dominique Barbier
Morgan Hunter Pleasure
Lesson with Dominique
When I returned home, I diligently followed Dominique’s coaching and method and within a few months had a completely new horse, or should I say, I had a completely “new relationship” with my “old” horse. This selfsame “problem” horse even learned to piaffer!
I have been pursuing my dressage training professionally since that eventful day in 1991 and have taken innumerable lessons with Dominique and hosted many clinics. I also travelled with him to Brazil and France. Although my entire riding journey has taken a few diversionary paths along the way, I am constantly coming back to my training with Dominique; it is my lodestone, and I will always remain deeply grateful for the gift his teaching has given me — a profound and ever evolving connection with my horses.
Riding Visqueiro VO in Brazil
